Wyeth, which makes the top-selling vaccine for children, Prevnar, would help fill this void.
But he ignores the dramatic reduction in all these infections caused by the Prevnar vaccine.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
The Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether to approve Prevnar 13 for use in adults.
Prevnar, the vaccine against the pneumococcus bacterium, is one of the greatest pharmaceutical innovations of the past two decades.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
In 2010, Pfizer introduced a new Prevnar vaccine, called Prevnar 13, that includes 19A and many of those strains.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
The studies presented at the European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Disease seem to show that Prevnar 13 fits this bill.
There, 83, 000 patients have been randomized to receive either Prevnar 13 or placebo to see if the vaccine prevents cases of pneumococcal disease.
The boost to immunity from that dose was greater in the patients who had already received Prevnar 13, indicating that a booster strategy could work.
Other areas of excitement however, are sales of Prevnar and Enbrel.
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There is a drug resistant bacterial strain, called 19A, that became more prevalent as it filled the niche left by the bacteria vanquished by Prevnar.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
Prevnar is referred to as PCV7 (for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 7).
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
But in 2000 Wyeth scored a huge hit with Prevnar, the first vaccine for infants against pneumococcal bacteria, a common cause of pneumonia and ear infections.
But that may not be the case with Prevnar 13, a new pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine for older people (ages 50 and up) to prevent pneumonia.
He rates the stock "underperform, " although he does see strength in some of Wyeth's drugs, including Effexor for depression, Protonix for acid reflux, and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.
Pneumococcal infections in young kids plunged 77% after Prevnar's debut.
He bases them around one fact: That when the pneumococcus strains covered by Prevnar are eliminated, other bacteria fill in the empty ecological niche, so cases go up.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
One showed that when patients who had already received the polysaccharide vaccine were given Prevnar 13, their immune responses were better than those who got another dose of the polysaccharide vaccine.
But while the ACIP is scheduled to meet later this month as it does three times a year it has only scheduled time for discussion, not for a vote to recommend Prevnar 13.
How does Mercola arrive at his conclusions about Prevnar?
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
Two studies presented at a medical conference in Milan this morning help lay out the argument as to why Prevnar 13 in grown-ups could be a big deal, both medically and financially.
There is promise there, particularly in the lung cancer drug crizotinib, which is being submitted to the Food and Drug Administration, and to Prevnar, the vaccine against pneumococcal disease, which is being tested in adults.
Prevnar is expensive for a vaccine.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
Wyeth is also developing another medicine to treat menopause symptoms and a new drug for osteoporosis, a treatment for the side effects of morphine, and an improved version of its Prevnar vaccine, which prevents certain bacterial infections in infants and toddlers.
In fact, one paper Mercola cites, which noted a 71% increase in the prevalence of 19A, also said there had been a dramatic 44% reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease, including pneumonia, meningitis, and bloodstream infections and that includes the increase in 19A. The new vaccine, Prevnar 13, introduced in 2010, protects against the deadly 19A strain, which now appears to be on the wane.
FORBES: A Vaccine Eliminated A Deadly Killer Of Infants. So Why Do Some People Fear It?
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